“A relatively quiet month in Connecticut's labor market as our unemployment rate continues to decline for the second consecutive month,” said Andy Condon, Director of the Office of Research. “However, July's increase of 1,700 jobs was revised down by the Bureau of Labor Statistics to a loss of 800.”

Private Sector employment fell by 1,500 (-0.1%, 1,449,700 jobs) in August but grew by 16,200 jobs (1.1%) over the year. The Government supersector gained 1,800 jobs (0.8%, 241,100) last month and remains up over the year (2,400, 1.0%).

Education and Health Services (2,000, 0.6%, 329,900 positions) added the most jobs last month. As mentioned above, the Government supersector also had strong gains in August. The Leisure and Hospitality supersector continued to grow in August (1,100, 0.7%, 155,200 jobs). The smaller Information supersector also saw gains in August (300, 0.9%, 33,600 jobs).

On the down side, Construction and Mining saw losses for the third month in a row (-1,700, -2.9%, 56,500 jobs). Other Services shed 1,400 jobs (-2.1%, 66,200 jobs). The Professional and Business Services services supersector (-800, -0.4%, 218,200 jobs) declined after two months of growth. Financial Activities dropped 600 jobs (-0.4%, 132,800 jobs). The manufacturing supersector had a small loss (-300, -0.2%, 160,000 jobs). Manufacturing continues to show over-the-year growth, (600, 0.4%). Lastly, Trade, Transportation & Utilities (-100, 0.0%, 297,300 jobs) showed a small loss despite some growth in the retail segment.

Connecticut's Private Sector has reclaimed employment at a better pace, recovering 103,200 (92.4%, about 1,323 jobs per month) of the 111,700 private sector positions that were lost during that same employment downturn.

Labor Market Areas (LMAs): Nonfarm employment gains were calculated in all four Connecticut labor market areas (LMA's, NECTA's in New England - New England City and Town Areas) that are seasonally adjusted by the BLS. The Bridgeport-Stamford-Norwalk LMA (1,100, 0.3%, 416,400) led the areas in August and now leads all LMA's in annual growth (7,000, 1.7%). The Hartford-West Hartford-East Hartford LMA (800, 0.1%, 575,700 jobs) and New Haven LMA (800, 0.3%, 284,200 jobs) were next. The Norwich-New London-Westerly LMA added 600 jobs as well (0.5%, 129,300 positions). All four seasonally adjusted LMAs have positive job growth over the year as well.

Note: Six major Connecticut LMAs are estimated independently from the statewide data by the BLS and cover more than 90% of the nonfarm employment in the state. Thus estimates will not fully sum to the statewide total. Only four of the six BLS-estimated labor markets are seasonally adjusted. The Danbury LMA and the Waterbury LMA are not seasonally adjusted at this time due to a recent geography change.

Hours and Earnings: The Private Sector workweek, not seasonally adjusted, averaged 33.5 hours in August 2016, down five-tenths of an hour from the same month a year ago (-1.5%). Average hourly earnings at $30.39, not seasonally adjusted, were up $1.04, or 3.5%, from the August 2015 hourly earnings estimate ($29.35). The resultant average Private Sector weekly pay amounted to $1,018.07, up $20.17, or 2.0% higher than a year ago.

The 12-month percent change in the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers(CPI-U, U.S. City Average, not seasonally adjusted) in August 2016 was 1.1%. Information for the manufacturing production workweek and earnings can be found in the table section of this release under the “Hours and Earnings” data category. Current all-employee private sector hours and earnings estimates can be volatile due to fluctuating sample responses.